Parasitic mycoflora of sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolated from soils of the western frontier of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the diversity of the parasitic mycoflora and to identify the necessary time until the beginning of the parasitism of sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in soils of the western frontier of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. Agricultural and non agricultural soils of five locations in the western frontier of Rio Grande do Sul were collected. The fungi isolation was performed by testing baits, and baits were the sclerotia of the phytopathogen, which remained buried in the soil for 15, 30 and 60 days. The fungi were identified at the genus level. The following fungal genera were found parasitizing sclerotia: Trichoderma, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Pythium (Cromista) Clonostachys rosea (Gliocladium), Chaetomium, Curvularia, Phytophthora (Cromista), Rhizopus, Lichtheimia (Absidia), Mucor, Acremonium, Periconia and Isaria. It was observed that the sclerotia were parasitized by fungi until 15 days after they had been buried. And after this period, only the frequency of occurrence of fungi has changed. It was concluded that the fungal genera Isaria, Periconia, Acremonium, Lichtheimia (Absidia), Phytophthora, Curvularia and Chaetomium are found both in agricultural and non-agricultural soils on the western frontier of RS, but they were not previously cited in other works. There is diversity of parasitic fungi of sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum in the soils of the western frontier of the RS, which can be used in experiments to compose biological control programs for this pathogen. The sclerotia are parasitized by fungi until 15 days after being buried underground.